BCR NEWS (Noida): To commemorate the National Organ Donation Day in India on 27th November, 2016, Fortis Hospital NOIDA took the initiative to spread increased awareness on organ donation amongst masses. To elaborate on the noble and humane act of organ donation, the team of doctors brought up the recent case of an ex-serviceman brought in a critical condition to Fortis Hospital, Noida following a road accident. After following due protocol, the doctors at Fortis Hospital Noida pronounced him brain dead. The family of the donor was counselled on donating organs to save lives of critical patients waiting for transplants. The consent having been procured from the family members, the harvesting teams then followed due protocol to retrieve the organs. As per allocation done by National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) two kidneys, the liver and heart were sent for the patients to different hospitals.
Rahul, age 30 years, from Hapur had been on dialysis since the last 2 years received a kidney while Harminder Singh Arora, age 67 years, from Delhi received the liver after having waited for more than a month. Dr. Manoj K Singal, Director, Nephrology & Kidney Transplant & Dr. Dushyant Nadar, Director, Urology & Kidney Transplant, Fortis Hospital Noida and his team, retrieved the kidney and Dr. Vivek Vij, Director, Liver Transplant, Fortis Hospital, Noida retrieved the liver.
To facilitate the speedy transportation of the heart, a green corridor was created between Fortis Hospital, Noida and Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, Okhla with active and swift cooperation from traffic police authorities at Ghaziabad, Noida and the Delhi Police. The donor’s heart was transported covering a distance of 22 kms in 16.20 minutes. The harvested heart left Noida at 11.50 PM and reached Fortis Escorts Heart Institute in Okhla, Delhi at 12.06 AM.
Dr. Vivek Vij, Director, Liver Transplant program said, ”For an organ recipients, a transplant often means a second chance at life. Liver is considered as one of the vital organ of the human body and can be transplanted to those whose organs are failing. It allows many recipients to return to a normal lifestyle. I understand it is difficult to think about organ donation when a loved one has been lost; however organ donation is a generous and worthwhile decision that can save many lives. I strongly recommend and urge people to come forward and pledge to donate organs so that someone where can live.”
Dr. Manoj K Singhal, Director, Nephrology & Kidney Transplant said, “Because of changing lifestyle and increase prevalence of diabetes and high blood pressure, the number of patients of kidney disease has increased significantly in last few years. Most of these patients are on maintenance dialysis awaiting kidney transplant. All most one in three of these patients don’t have compatible donor in their family. Increasing awareness about brain death & organ donation will go a long way in bridging this gap between demand and supply.”
Dr. Dushyant Nadar, Director, Urology & Kidney Transplant, Fortis Hospital Noida, said, “India is the diabetes capital of the world. Diabetes is a big cause of kidney failure. The most frequently performed organ transplant in India is kidney transplant. Kidney failure is a big problem itself. The number of patients waiting for kidney transplantation is increasing day by day and we done have sufficient donors to it. We really need to build this awareness so that more and more people could come forward and help the needy patients.
Gagan Sehgal, Zonal Director, Fortis Hospital Noida said, “We express our heartfelt gratitude to the donor family for this noble cause. The role played by the Ghaziabad, NOIDA and Delhi Police to ensure smooth travel of the retrieved organs to their destinations is commendable. It is the selfless and tireless cooperation of all the key stakeholders involved, which has made this possible. We hope that this sets an example for more organ donations and creates increased awareness.”“Pertaining to National Organ Donation Day on 27 Nov., we are starting a week long organ donation activities to make awareness in the society. We are going to colleges, corporate houses and RWA societies for organ donation pledges registration. We are also encouraging our own employees to stand up with organ donation pledges.” Mr. Sehgal added.
Wife of patient Harminder Singh Arora, Mrs. Inderjit Kaur, shared, “Our family salutes the donor’s family for being instrumental in granting a new lease of life to my husband. We are extremely grateful to the doctors and the entire Fortis team for making this possible.”
Fortis Hospital, Noida is doing weeklong activities on organ donation awareness in the society starting from 27 November – 3 December, 2016 at various places. They are going to place organ donation pledge registration desks at various Corporate Houses & Educational Institutes. One who is willing to pledge for organ donation can come to the registration desk at Hospital OPD area in first floor for registration during this time.
In India approximately 210,000 patients are waiting for transplants with only 6000 patients able to get a donor. In spite of the Human Organ Transplant Act since 1994, the cadaveric retrieval transplant is still in infancy in India. The cadaver organ donation varies from 0.26 per million populations to maximum of 1 per million population in few states. Even for a living donor transplant for some organs like the kidney and liver, approximately one third patients do not have a blood group compatible donor in the family. In the face of such blood group mismatch, one of the best options is a swap kidney method.
The organ donation rate in the country is expected to increase from 0.05 per million population to 1% per million by the end of 2016. Awareness towards organ donation has increased in major cities in the country and donors have been from all walks of life. This noble act will find further recognition if citizens from every corner of the country could adopt this noble initiative and join hands to be a part of this noble act of organ donation. Brain deaths occur in up to 30 percent patients who die of head injury or stroke, but go unrecognized or unreported. Healthcare providers who have tried sincerely for organ donation by introducing Standard Operating Procedures, increasing awareness amongst hospital staff and training transplant coordinators have found an acceptance rate amongst families of over 40%. Fortis Healthcare hopes to bridge the wide gap between demand and supply of organs through this initiative.
